Potato-digger



(No Model.)

I. WQHOOVER.

POTATO BIGGER.

Patented Jan. 29,1889.

Fig. 3

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:EingAk ISAAC \V. HOOVER, 0F AVERY, OI'IIO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,818, dated January 29, 1889.

Application filed October 17, 1888. Serial No. 288,381. (No model.)

9 all whom it may concern.-

.Be it known that I, IsAAu W. IIOOYER, oi

Avery, county of Eric, and Siateo'f ()hio,have

in which Figure 11 is a partial vertical section of the potato-digger provided with the improvement above referred to. Fig. 2 illustrates a face view of the improvement detached from the machine. Fig. 3 is a partial cross-section of the improved side of the machine and parts attached thereto. Fig. 4. illustrates a face view of parts shown in Fig. 2.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the drawings'and specification.

The machine to which this improvement is applied having been fully described in my former patents, and more particularly so in the patent above cited, it is not deemed nec essary to repeat the full description thereof, but only to refer to those parts which are influenced by or brought in direct contact with the said improvements.

In Fig. 1, A represents one of the drivers, which, by means of the gears I (J and a sprocket-wheel with chain, (not shown in the drawings,) setsin motion the elevator I) when the machine is drawn along over the field.

The scoop-shovel 1E digs the potatoes out of the ground, to be carried up by the elevator D over the rack 1 onto the separator G and screen H, which are located at the rear of the machine and only partiallyindicated in Fig. 1..

The elevator I) consists of two endless chains, (1, which are connected by the cross bars Z). The chains a engage into sprocketwheels I at the upper end of. the side plates, .I, and are guided over the roller L at the lower end of the machine, near the scoopshovel E, and over the sprocket-wheels M, located below the rack 1 This departure from my former patents for drivin the elevator has the advantage of rendering it impossible by the sprocketwheels to press in stones in the chains of said elevator, and thereby cause a breakage of the same. wheels as shown in Fig. 1 and to take up the slack oi the chains or elevator before the roller I1 is reached, in order to prmrent dragging ol' the elevator on the ground. In passing over the roller Ii it necessary that the chain should be kept free from the stones, gravel, and earth, which fall tin-(nigh the rack I? onto the ground again, and it is thus that the catch-iron N is provided for. Said catchiron may be either bolted onto the inwardlyting flange c of the side piece, .I, as seen .I, as seen in Fig. 1. In either instance it pioiecisdownin frontof the wheel M, with the face side thereof depending in an oblique direction. to the face of the wheel or line of the chain,as indicated in. Fig. a. The flange c of the side plates, J, extends from the catch-iron N close onto the roll L, as seen in Fig. 1, so that after the chains are once freed from the stones, gravel, or earth bythe wheels M engaging into the links of the chain no more deposits of gravel or earth are possible until that part of the chain has passed around the roller L.

\Vhen the machine is running, the speed with which thewheels M. en into the links of the chains is such that any substancesuch as stones or gravel will. be thrown off with a force sufficient to strike the catch-iron N and to be rclmundedbythesame. The stones will be rebounded from the said iron under the same angle as they strike the face thereof; hence any variation from a right angle of the face of the catch-iron N from the plane in which the wheel moves and the stones are thrown must necessarily cause the stones to be rebounded in a direction out of that plane and fall down to the ground. In Fig. at theinclination of the catch-iron face to the wheels M is indicated and the angles pointed out by arrows, in which the stones will be thrown and rebounded. That, it the deposits were left on the chain while it passes around the roller L, serious injuries to the machine were liable Another advantage is to place the said to occur at any time can readily be seen; hence the utility of the improvement above referred to.

lVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a potato-digger, catch-irons N, secured to the side plates of said digger with the face side thereof depending in front of the sprocketwheels M in an. oblique direction to the plane in which said wheels revolve, in combination.-

with the flanges e of said plates, constructed and arranged in the manner as shown, and for the purpose described.

2. In a potato-digger, the endless elevator D, located between the side plates, .J', sliding upon the stationary raek F, driven from the sprocket-wheels I I, andguided over the roller 1 

